Viewing parties for today’s United States-Nigeria game in the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup will be held at three locations in Los Angeles County and in Tustin in Orange County.
The opening kickoff of the Group D game from Vancouver, British Columbia, is set for 5 p.m. The game will be televised in English by Fox Broadcasting and in Spanish by the NBC Universo cable network.
The Los Angeles and Orange County watch parties will be held at:
— The Man Cave Ultimate Sports Bar and Lounge, 3575 Cahuenga Blvd., Universal City;
— Q’s Billiard Club, 11835 Wilshire Blvd., Brentwood;
— Shannon’s On Pine, 209 Pine Ave., Long Beach; and
— The Auld Dubliner, 2497 Park Ave., Tustin.
The viewing parties are organized by various chapters of American Outlaws, a nationwide support group for the U.S. men’s and women’s national soccer teams.
The game is the final group play game for both teams. The U.S. would win the group with a victory over Nigeria; by tying Nigeria and Sweden tying Australia in the group’s other game or Sweden winning by one goal; or with a one-goal loss to Nigeria and Sweden tying Australia.
The top two teams in the four-team group are assured of advancing to the single-elimination phase of the tournament.
The U.S. leads the group with a 1-0-1 record. The Americans defeated Australia, 3-1, June 8 and tied Sweden, 0-0, on Friday. Nigeria is last at 0-1- 1 with a 3-3 tie with Sweden on June 8, overcoming 2-0 and 3-2 deficits, and a 2-0 loss to Australia on Friday.
The U.S. has a 76 percent chance of winning, Nigeria an 8 percent chance and there is a 16 percent chance the game will end in a tie, according to FiveThirtyEight.com, the ESPN-owned website that analyzes data related to politics, economics, science, life and sports.
Nigeria is the U.S.’ lowest-ranked opponent in its three group play games. Nigeria is 33rd in the rankings compiled by FIFA, soccer’s international governing body. The U.S. is ranked second.
The U.S. is 4-0 all-time against Nigeria. The teams haven’t met since the 2007 Women’s World Cup when the U.S. won, 1-0, on a first-minute goal by Lori Chalupny. Of the 14 players who played for the U.S. in that game, seven are on the 2015 U.S. World Cup team, including Chalupny.
Nigeria’s 23-player roster includes two players who play in the U.S. — forward Francisca Ordega, who plays for the Washington Spirit of the National Women’s Soccer League where she is a teammate of U.S defender Ali Krieger and goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris, and forward Courtney Dike, who plays for Oklahoma State.
The Nigerian roster also consists of two players each who play in Belarus and England and one each who play in France, Kazakhstan and Sweden. The remaining 14 play on Nigerian club teams.
All but one of the U.S players play in the National Women’s Soccer League, now in its third season. The one exception is forward Abby Wambach, who played in the league in its first two seasons, but is not playing in it this year to concentrate on preparations for the World Cup.
The nine-team league is “in serious discussions with a number” of groups interested in obtaining expansion teams, Patrick Donnelly, the league’s director of communications, told City News Service.
“With the right ownership group, we are open to many possible markets for expansion, including Southern California,” Donnelly said.
